Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) has been considered as unsuitable for the delivery of real-time media, such as audio and video content. This is mainly due to the aggressive congestion control algorithm and the retransmission procedure that TCP implements. In TCP, the sender reduces the transmission rate significantly (e.g., by 50%) upon detection of a congestion event, typically recognized through packet loss or excessive transmission delays.
Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) is a preferred protocol for the delivery of multimedia content over the Internet. HTTP runs on top of TCP and is a textual protocol.
Dynamic Adaptive HTTP Streaming (DASH) has been standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG). Several other proprietary solutions for adaptive HTTP streaming, such as APPLE's HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and MICROSOFT's Smooth Streaming, are being commercially deployed. Unlike those, however, DASH is a fully-open and standardized media streaming solution, which drives inter-operability among different implementations.